PEOPLE IMPACT’S TOP 5 TIPS FOR IMPROVING YOUR PUBLIC SPEAKING SKILLS!
- Ava S
- Dec 11, 2025
- 2 min read
Ava S
University of Oxford - BA in modern history
1. Know your audience!
Good communication understands and gets to the core of the aims and targets of its audience. The way information is conveyed, the formality of the speech, and body language is all dependent on the audience that you are catering for. For example, if you are delivering a speech to parents at a school, the tone of the speech would be different to if you were delivering the speech to the children of the parents.
2. Practice, practice, practice!
When public speaking for the first time, it is likely that you will naturally feel nervous as it is a new experience! It is well known that many people are put off debating simply because they are too nervous to debate in the first place. This can be helpful as can push you to perform but you want to be able to keep your nerves under control. The best way to overcome fear of public speaking or public speaking anxiety is to practice and prepare as much as you can. Practice first speaking in front of a mirror or to family and friends and ask for feedback on the ways you could improve your body language and communication style.
3. Know your negatives and use your positives!
Feedback is not only necessary before the speech takes place in order to improve your performance, but can also be obtained during performances. It is important to have an element of spontaneity in the way that you speak so that you can adjust your tone and body language based on the audience. For example, if the audience seems to be lacking in engagement, you can capture their attention with small anecdotes or, if appropriate, a joke.
4. Have lots of fun!
Additionally, you can enhance your public speaking ability by using anecdotes and humour if appropriate to the tone and audience of the speech that you are performing. It adds a personal touch and flair to a public speech when it does not come across as rigid or too pre-perfected. Adding anecdotes and jokes to your speech offers just one way in which you can add a touch of yout personality to your speech, but ensure that it is appropriate for the tone and audience of your speech!
5. Be interactive!
It is important when public speaking not to simpy read off of a screen or a piece of paper. It is important though to have prompts or visual aids when you are speaking in order to remind you of the next topic you wanted to be able to properly cover. This will allow you to engage your audience in your speech, but also to allow you to focus on capturing their attention through body language.
Good luck with your public speaking!
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